Thursday, December 11, 2008

Ultra Compact Camera group test

Digital Photography Review has published an extensive review of 9 ultra-compact digital cameras.

Conclusions include:

"When it comes to the finish line picking a winner for this group was surprisingly difficult, with few models doing everything well and few doing anything particularly badly."

"Of the really, really slim cameras the Casio S10, which everyone fell for as soon as it came out of the box, was the most disappointing from an image quality point of view, whereas the Sony T700 went some way to justifying its high price by being not only the coolest kid on the block but also putting in a surprisingly good showing in all our tests."

"An honorable mention must go to the Nikon Coolpix S210, far and away the cheapest camera in the group but one of the slimmest, and producing images that, whilst not the best here, are far from being the worst."

"The best all round camera in this group - in terms of image quality, handling and performance - was the Canon SD790 IS, especially at lower ISO settings, where it easily matches high end compacts aimed at enthusiast users."

"The FX37 is a far more interesting proposition, and though it can't match the SD790's resolution or sharpness, it shares many of its qualities; natural colors, reliable exposure and focus, responsive operation and a simple, logical control system."

"But it's more pocketable, has some very neat features and offers a considerably more versatile zoom range (covering 25-125mm), which gives you real wideangle capabilities without sacrificing the short telephoto that is so useful for head and shoulders portraits."------------